HomePod Siri web results

[3460169]

I have a couple of OG HomePods in different rooms, both on OS version 15.5.1. We've had a HomeKit home setup for some time, with various devices and automations and whatnot. Only the wife and I are members of this setup and no other mischievous characters have access that we're aware of!

Anyway Siri used to readily send web results to my iPhone (iOS 15.5) on demand. So a query like "Hey Siri, search the web for dogs" and that info would pop up on my phone. This has stopped working entirely lately. Instead of sending the results, Siri replies with "I found some web results. I can show them if you ask again from your iPhone."

Anybody else running into this? My wife tried as well (HomePod are set up to recognize and distinguish our voices) and the behavior from Siri was the same. I've tried restarting all the devices, too, to no avail. It's odd.

Thanks!

 

[3460169]

Nothing on this one eh? Can a few of you HomePod OG owners confirm or deny that web searches done by Siri on your HomePod are in fact sent to your phone? Or does Siri reply with the same useless stuff as noted above? Thanks.

 

[w5jck]

I just tried on my HomePod mini and get the same comment you did about asking her again on the iPhone. I’m not surprised. A lot of bugs these days and Apple is constantly taking away features are completely changing how they work.

 

[3460169]

I just tried on my HomePod mini and get the same comment you did about asking her again on the iPhone. I’m not surprised. A lot of bugs these days and Apple is constantly taking away features are completely changing how they work.

160ish views and you're the only soul so far to take the couple minutes out of your day to parse the text, try the little experiment with your HomePod, and construct a reply. Thank you for that!

Totally agreed with your Apple sentiment as well. Long-time  user here, I work in IT and use many Apple things throughout my professional and personal existence. Share prices might be amazing but quality-of-life in their ecosystem? Kinda mehhhh.

Thanks again for the reply!

 

[Itinj24]

Same thing here but asking for pictures of dogs (or anything) displays them on the iPhone.

 

[w5jck]

160ish views and you're the only soul so far to take the couple minutes out of your day to parse the text, try the little experiment with your HomePod, and construct a reply. Thank you for that!

Totally agreed with your Apple sentiment as well. Long-time  user here, I work in IT and use many Apple things throughout my professional and personal existence. Share prices might be amazing but quality-of-life in their ecosystem? Kinda mehhhh.

Thanks again for the reply!

You are welcome!

I've been using Apple gear since the Apple II+ in 1981, and I've had a bunch of their gear over the past 40+ years, but they have occasionally drifted off course, like in the 1990s. These days the hardware is typically great, but the software it relies on is often buggy and/or poorly designed. I sure keep hoping that will get that corrected one of these years. These days their UIs are more often convoluted and confusing rather than simple when it should be simple and easy to understand.

 

[w5jck]

Same thing here but asking for pictures of dogs (or anything) displays them on the iPhone.

Cool! I just tried this and it worked for me as well. Strange that it will send images, but not web links for some reason. Perhaps a lazy programmer or someone on the development staff with a lack of imagination.

 

[Itinj24]

Cool! I just tried this and it worked for me as well. Strange that it will send images, but not web links for some reason. Perhaps a lazy programmer or someone on the development staff with a lack of imagination.

Seems to be the trend with Apple lately. I could’ve sworn it used to send web links to the phone too, if the HomePod couldn’t accommodate the query.

 

[w5jck]

Seems to be the trend with Apple lately. I could’ve sworn it used to send web links to the phone too, if the HomePod couldn’t accommodate the query.

It probably did since both you and the OP seem to remember it doing so. I never tried it, but I just got my HomePod mini this week, and it is the first HomePod I’ve owned.

 

[3460169]

It probably did since both you and the OP seem to remember it doing so. I never tried it, but I just got my HomePod mini this week, and it is the first HomePod I’ve owned.

Yeah Siri absolutely sent web results to iPhone for anything she couldn't handle verbally, or any web searches specifically asked for. There's a few articles out on the general Interwebs on the subject -- I'm mobile right now else I'd share some links. I'll try the image search when I'm back home, too. That's a good find! Thanks, friends!

 

[3460169]

Well actually here's a few via the goog:

 

[Itinj24]

Yeah Siri absolutely sent web results to iPhone for anything she couldn't handle verbally, or any web searches specifically asked for. There's a few articles out on the general Interwebs on the subject -- I'm mobile right now else I'd share some links. I'll try the image search when I'm back home, too. That's a good find! Thanks, friends!

I was testing all different phrases to try to get Siri to display the web results on the phone and stumbled upon the photos. Apple also has a habit of changing the verbiage that Siri understands without informing any of us, the end user.

 

[w5jck]

At least Siri doesn't just start babbling on about nonsense like Alexa. Or start trying to interest me in buying goodies on Amazon.com. Kudos to Apple for controlling those two aspects much better than Amazon does. And so far I've had zero accidental activations of Siri from TV and radio programming or conversations with real people. Alexa on the other hand frequently thinks she hears her voice then starts gabbering on about things and is sometimes difficult to stop!

I've got several Alexa Echo devices and almost all of my home automation is controlled through them, but every time Amazon updates FW you have the possibility of things changing. Apple has that issue too of course, but they tend to be less annoying with it than Amazon. We are creatures of habit, and after we get muscle memory on accomplishing things, then changes can really throw us off for a while. I don't think either of those companies fully understand that.

I'm hoping to gradually transition the home automation to Apple's HomeKit since Amazon is so flaky. But unfortunately only one of my accessories, a meross smart-plug, works with HomeKit. None of my smart-bulbs, security cams, or other accessories do. So as I add new accessories, I'm going to get those that will work with HomeKit. I like Apple's Home app much better than the Alexa app.

 

[Edelheid]

My HomePod mini started behaving the same way recently. It used to send web results straight to my iPhone and doesn't tell me to ask on my iPhone again. It's annoying to ask again from the iPhone and more so than asking the HomePod twice since it occasionally doesn't understand me correctly the first time or it simply ignores what I say.

 

[Feek]

If I ask any of my HomePods something they can't answer and have to "send the results to my iPhone", it fails. If my wife asks the same question and the HomePod decides to send the results to her iPhone, it works.

Every damn time.